Hot Foot in a harris

[Heike]

Hi all, anybody experienced a harris hawk or other bird, with the symtoms of one foot being hot to the touch and the other normal, diagnosed previously as probably an infection, and succesfully treated with 10 day course of baytril, the heat has returned in the same foot again, but comes and goes from hour to hour at times, she was fine for a month or more now, she is now flying free and hunting, (not entered yet) but we are doing dead rabbit chasing now, i am wondering if she has a tendon, joint or something similar problem, the foot is not swollen or damaged in any way, so i am wondering if, in the course of catching and gripping dead rabbit, she has some weakness in this foot that flairs up at the least amount of work and excspecially when required to grip very hard ? anybody had anything similar ?

Regards Heike:cry:

[The New Kid]

Hmm... not sure, but is it affecting your birds performance or just worrying you? i'd advise you see a vet, tbh

Greg

[Heike]

Just worrying, not realy affecting her, she bears her weight etc lands ok steps up fine, vets at 8.30 tomorrow morning,

[The New Kid]

Hmm, well im not really all that experienced, was just curious - be sure to keep us informed with a smuch info as possible :D
Good luck at the vets, hope she's OK

cheers

Greg

[RedNoseK9]

if the foot is warm means circulation is fine no breaks or any thing however some infection symptoms are heat in a wound just check her feet thoroughly my knowledge of this has been from dogs and some cattle but infection principals and bone are generally the same however i am not a vet so could seek more advice

[Tr1gger]

C a vet m8 birds are very good at hiding any health problems. Im not saying that it is serious but its worth checking it out.

[Graham Stuart]

ive notices this with my barn owl because i dont wear a glove i feel his feet when hes in the house with me, also noticed it with parrots, i think because they offten stand on one foot and the other tucked up it gets warm, not had any problems though...

[Tr1gger]

ive notices this with my barn owl because i dont wear a glove i feel his feet when hes in the house with me, also noticed it with parrots, i think because they offten stand on one foot and the other tucked up it gets warm, not had any problems though...

That also makes sense

[Heike]

ive notices this with my barn owl because i dont wear a glove i feel his feet when hes in the house with me, also noticed it with parrots, i think because they offten stand on one foot and the other tucked up it gets warm, not had any problems though...



Maybe you cracked it, course its warm, its the one she tucks up most of the time, - or is that because its bothering her, hmm

[Graham Stuart]

no they usually stand on the same foot, i dont know if like us they prefer one leg to the other...ie left or right footed, i dont think you should worry mate ..

[Turumti]

Hot feet arent a good thing. They usually precede a full fledged bacterial infection, Visit ur vet ASAP.

[Sparrow Hawker]

Might be that the antibiotic hasn't worked I know theres a number of other antibiotics that can be used! may need another course to clear the matter up.

Marbocyl and Synulox are other ones that vet sometimes use!

All The Best,

HH

[OutFlying]

Why isn't it entered by November ?

[Heike]

Why isn't it entered by November ?
Because she had the initial foot problem before, so she was not really manned till 4.10.05, creance 22.10.05, flying free 2.11.05 and out hunting three days later on 5.11.05 should i have been doing it faster ?

[Mary Quite Contrary]

swop her bow perch for another one for a couple days of the week.

[Heike]

good idea, i have a new block perch getting made at this moment,
cheers

[Osiris]

good idea, i have a new block perch getting made at this moment,
cheers

Thought you were off to the vets m8!

Sometimes when the foot his warm/hot it could mean a bruised foot. My lannerets foot was bruised and a few days on Metacam sorted his foot out and have had no problems since. As someone else mentioned it could be caused by a fungal bacterial infection. My friends Saker had a bacterial infection in both his feet. Cleared up in one foot but required surgery in the other as the bacterial infection got worse. Course of antibiotics afterwards followed.

Jamie

[Heike]

Just back from vets, she got the allclear, reckon i was just being paranoid after the initial infection she had, but i was better to check it out i reckon
Thanks for all the advice, great when you get other heads thinking as well.
Cheers all

[Osiris]

Glad to hear she's alright m8. Nice one.

[Kanati]

ive notices this with my barn owl because i dont wear a glove i feel his feet when hes in the house with me, also noticed it with parrots, i think because they offten stand on one foot and the other tucked up it gets warm, not had any problems though...

yes I notive a huge heat difference with my harris hawks...as soon as they are disturbed, the foot comes back down out of the feathers, and if its a cold night you will notive the difference easily. go and check your bird regularly and you will probably find that its not always the same foot thats hot. Also feel the hot foot and then put you finger where the foot rests under the feathers (only if yor hawk is tame enough!) You should find that the temp of the foot and under the feathers feels the same.

As long as there is no swelling aswel you shouldnt need to worry.

[Sprout]

Hawks don't suffer from bumblefoot as much as falcons but it is still a sensible precaution to check feet daily. Warmth can indicate an infection but also if it has been tucked up recently! Checking regularly means you become accustomed to the normal anatomy so will pick up any abnormality quicker, as does cleaning the feet daily. Check for any redness, areas of heat/tenderness, smoothing of the papillae on the bottom etc. All these may indicate an early problem. Changing bows will do nothing unless the surface is different - change all perching so the surface is astroturf - spreads weight out better to the foot.